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Rolex Fastnet Virtual Race
Dry run the new Rolex Fastnet Racecourse with Virtual Regatta
Just over a year out from the August 2021 start of the race proper, potential competitors, armchair sailors and gamer enthusiasts from all over the world will have the opportunity to try their hand at competing on the new course for the Rolex Fastnet Race, in the online game created by Virtual Regatta.
The first part of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s premier offshore event remains the same – leaving Cowes, heading west down the English Channel, passing Land’s End and crossing the Celtic Sea to the Fastnet Rock off southwest Ireland, before returning to the Channel, leaving Bishop Rock to port. But, for its next edition, the finish has moved to Cherbourg at the top of the Cotentin Peninsula, some 70 miles due south of Cowes. This change to the world’s most popular offshore race increases its distance to 695nm.
Following the new course, Virtual Regatta’s Rolex Fastnet Race will set sail at 1200 UTC on 3 August 2020. It will provide players with the opportunity to compete against friends, family, colleagues or fellow sailing enthusiasts in a race based on real weather data aboard their own Class40. The game is free to play, but the more competitive can pay a small fee to upgrade their equipment. While the ‘real’ Rolex Fastnet Race is the world’s most well-subscribed offshore race with more than 350 entries expected on the start line in 2021, ranging from 100ft Ultime maxi trimarans to mums and dads on their 30ft family cruisers, the Virtual Regatta fleet will dwarf this, their offshore events regularly seeing more than 30,000 entries.
Among the virtual competitors, this year will be two-time Volvo Ocean Race winner Phil Harmer. The Australian was part of Ian Walker’s crew that set the present monohull Rolex Fastnet Race course record aboard the VO70 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in 2011.
The virtual Rolex Fastnet Race can be played on a computer at virtualregatta.com and on a smartphone via the Virtual Regatta Offshore App available for download from the Apple Store / Google Play Store. Those wishing to play must register with Virtual Regatta.
